Life a primary school student in South Korea

A primary school student attends a normal school in the morning and then a "hagwan"or private cram school in the afternoon specialising in subjects like English or Music. When they get home they have lots of homework from both schools and they may even have a private tutor visit them at home for one subject or another. The Korean mothers are obsessed with driving their kids to academic success so they can go to university. They have little time for sport or recreation. Their favourite food is "kimchi"or pickled cabbage.

Hi Belinda,

I am an elementary school teacher in South Korea and from my experiences here I can tell you that the average South Korean 5th grader's school life is a lot more stressful then than most others kids' of the same age from around the world.

The main reason for this is that so much pressure is put on students by their parents to excel. Achieving top marks and winning awards is highly, almost unrealistically encouraged, and in order to achieve these high demands students, from a very younger age, spend the majority of their waking life with their noses buried in a textbook of some kind.

Grade 5 students start school at around 9am and will generally finish at about 3pm. After school the majority of the students attend a hagwon, which is a private academy that offers extra tuition. There are many different types of hagwons; math, science, art, English... and the types of hagwons the student attends will usually depend on what subjects the parents want their child to excel in.

Grade 5 students take Math, Science, Social studies, Korean, Music, PE and Art classes at school. They also usually study a  musical instrument, most commonly the piano,violin or flute. The public school is system here is very good, and all the teachers at the school are dedicated and highly educated professionals.

Another interesting difference is that in Korean public schools there are no cleaners. After lunch in the cafeteria students are assigned different areas of the school to mop, sweep, dust and wipe. In order to help keep their school clean, teachers and students wear special indoor shoes that they change into as they arrive at school.

I hope this helps you... if you have anymore questions feel free to ask.

Best,
Remy

Hi Belinda and Jaimee

Here's an interesting look at hagwons in South Korea from Time magazine: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2094427,00.html

You can also get some background information on education and schools in South Korea on the Expat Arrivals site. Good luck with the project! :)